Discussing the context of modern sound.

Audio-Technica ATH-M50x Limited Edition Headphone Cover

In the 29th issue of the Sound podcast, we discuss the context of contemporary consumption of musical compositions and the possibilities for immersion in the topic.
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Dmitry: Now there is a situation when large IT companies like Apple with their Apple Music and the purchase of Beats, on the one hand, give us convenience, on the other, drag them into their closed ecosystem: we get a certain set of albums, tracks, that is, some choice, but we can not go beyond this in terms of, for example, receiving music with lossless compression.

This is a choice that people have to make if they don’t want to waste time on independent additional search, receiving and downloading music in potentially higher quality.

Timofey: Here we need to talk about the fact that there is a clear choice between convenience and quality. No matter how paradoxical it may sound, Apple Music, with all its convenience, is, in my opinion, a problem.

I would love to pay much more for Apple Music if I had the opportunity to listen at a completely different level of quality. But since it is very convenient, and I can listen to almost any song at any time, I make this compromise.

I take a phone out of my pocket, connect to Apple Music and listen to music in this way. Although at some points I, of course, do not have enough of this. And I take out a disk or run something from my hard disk in lossless quality. And then I get the maximum pleasure.

And at this moment I think, why do I need this Apple Music? But then I still come back to it simply because it is convenient. This conscious choice, when a person who understands how music should sound, how it can sound, chooses convenience instead of quality, is a terrible paradox, it seems to me.

Dmitry: A similar situation arises, for example, when listening to music in the subway. Portable players and DACs are hard enough to compete with smartphones that use the full power of the ecosystem of Apple and other companies.

Timofey: Yes. One box, again. Stuck and listen. But if we talk about the metro, we have already raised this topic many times - the metro is not the best example. This is an extreme environment for both ear and listening. And listening to music in this case is a way to disconnect yourself from the outside world. Here, of course, people have less complaints about the quality of sound. Well, that is heard.

Depending on, of course, how good or bad the material is used, and how decent the headphones are. Nevertheless, people with “sandwiches” (when a person has not just a smartphone, but individually a smartphone, a DAC and an amplifier, and all this is pulled together with a special rubber band) already quite often appear in the metro. This "sandwich" is in a backpack or bag. I already see this.

Even if I find myself on the subway — and I’m not often there — I see this, which probably means that the future has come. A person chooses [sound quality] because I cannot say that it is convenient to carry such a “sandwich” with me. Especially, if we talk about the main function of the smartphone - to talk on the phone. I have little idea how to technically implement a conversation on the phone with such a “sandwich”. Obviously, the headphones must be a headset.



Portable player FiiO X3 2nd gen

Dmitry: I rather meant a case with transport in general - it can be attributed to the aircraft, and to a rather long journey in the bus. It is, after all, more comfortable conditions, when a person can quietly lie back in an easy chair and listen to good music.

On the other hand, the topic of portable technology is also interesting from the point of view of equipment jobs. Now you can see that people are completely different start to relate to what they do during working hours. You can safely take a break for 15-20 minutes at lunchtime and listen to good music if there are no longer classic computer speakers from the late 90s - early 2000s in the workplace. Then everyone had computer speakers on the right and left of the monitor.

A person can already safely buy for 15-20 thousand rubles a portable system that will be at his work. It seems that he is not strongly attached to her, does not require much from her. But on the other hand, it allows you to have a good time, even if it is not an open stereo system, but just a set of DACs and fairly good headphones.

Timofey: Usually in offices there really are some such inexpensive things for general listening. In general, the concept of open space or simply large rooms where a huge number of people are sitting implies the use of personal means of isolating a person from others. In what open space you look, everywhere the head in the headphones. Otherwise it is impossible to work.

The concept of cabinets, which was not so long ago, seems to me more logical. It is not always enough to just put on the headphones in order to abstract from the external environment. I also want to turn away from her as much as possible, and so that I cannot see anything with my side vision. But there are people who really can not work with music. It is impossible to imagine how they generally work in open space.

The saddest thing is that in this case the efficiency of these people falls dramatically. The chief can look at the results of the work of such an employee, despite the fact that he seemed so promising, and they (the results) set aside much to be desired. The funny thing is that all this is due to the fact that he can not disconnect from the external environment, he is constantly in it. And headphones, unfortunately, will not solve this problem by 100%.

In due time, we had a situation in Audiomania where we could not agree for a very long time which radio we would listen to. Different people listen to very different music. Constantly sitting in the headphones is not quite normal and typical, periodically I want to get out of there. Comfortable to be in their natural environment. Actually there was a problem.

In one room we had an ardent supporter of heavy music, people who used to work under modern electronics, and opponents of both. It was very difficult to negotiate.



Marshall Stockwell Portable Speaker

Dmitry: On the other hand, there can be a very interesting way out when there is a separate room, for example, a small kitchen where people could put their music in turns.

Timofey: That, of course, would be very good. Again, in our experience, in a room where people gather for a break, as a rule, nothing sounds. We have, anyway. People take a breath, discuss something, and, as a rule, this is not a job.

Although it would be great to get to know each other's music. For example, before this comrade who loved heavy music, I practically did not listen to it. When he introduced me to her, I realized that there are interesting moments and compositions that I would not even mind listening to, but certainly not as a background during the main work.

Dmitry: Yes, you can get the most selective compositions right away and don’t waste time studying the topic and searching for yourself. When a person is immersed in a topic, he knows what specifically can be shown, which is a standard and an example of good compositions in a particular topic.

Timofey: It's generally worth remembering that humans are strange creatures. On the one hand, they constantly need a wide choice, on the other hand, they practically do not use it. If you take, for example, the same Apple Music - in fact, this is an opportunity to listen to anything.

But people do not know what they want. It turns out that they still listen to some playlists and selections. The same thing happens in Smart TV. Why is Smart TV so sluggish? Because people are not used to choose their own content. And here it turns out, everything is available to man, but he does not know what to take.

Therefore, people who can introduce you to a new world, a new style of music and tell what happens are very cool. It is the same with the search in Smart TV applications, in which there may be something interesting. I've been hooked on TED recently. I watch several performances every day. This is an incomparable feeling.

But then again, in what mode do I watch it? I press the "show random performance" button, I do not sit and choose something by tags, because it is not clear that I will choose. I want something, and I click and watch it something. A very strange creature is a man.

Dmitry: It is interesting to think about how the ecosystem of audio technology has changed in terms of accessibility. I recently bought an amateur reflex camera and tried to figure it out. I realized that he could give me nothing but an automatic mode, and in fact this is all that I don’t have for the first time, until I sit down to read a rather thick manual.

From the point of view of audio technology, the situation seems to me much easier. You do not need to immerse yourself in a topic for weeks in order to get at once a fairly good quality.

Timofey: With photo equipment everything is a little different. Photo equipment is professional and non-professional. By the way, audio too. For home listening, there is no need to understand anything, on the one hand, and on the other hand, if we are talking about how the format of music consumption has changed, here you can probably argue with the idea that a lot is being simplified.

In the 80s. I could get a tape recorder, insert a cassette, press the “Play” button and everything - there was no other listening option. Well, fine, coil, vinyl. Vinyl was a separate story. By the way, I don't associate vinyl from childhood with anything other than fairy tales.

People who listened to vinyl records back then were very specific. I had one acquaintance, he constantly ran to the Melody shop, defended a huge queue in order to buy a record, because it was not easy. Now, to have a lot of opportunities, you need to understand a little bit of technique.

Let's just say, there is a simple way, there is a difficult one. As in the cameras: there is an automatic mode, pressed one button - got the result, there are various other modes. That is, if a person wants more, he will have to figure it out. And more here, rather, in opportunities, additional chips.

For example, the same network players. You can record music on a USB flash drive, stick it into the receiver and listen. There is such an option. Another question is what exactly the receiver can reproduce, and how well it does it. If we want additional convenience, there is already a conversation about network storages, on which something lies, and all this needs to be set up.

All this is in principle not difficult. As well as setting the shutter speed, the aperture on the camera, because now the white balance, probably, any camera can set normally. And to learn how to work, you can take about ten minutes. About this book write.

With audio, a little harder. The most important thing is that the conditions are changing, the equipment is changing, and people are not keeping up with it very much. There are people who follow the fact that there is a new one. And there are people who do not know and who do not need it. For them it is too difficult, it is a kind of barrier that prevents them from plunging into the world of audio. They watch, see a lot of wires, a lot of devices, a lot of settings and decide to buy a boombox and listen to it.

Dmitry: It turns out that, on the one hand, the question of choice again arises. Of course, it is better when there is a wide choice. But, on the other hand, we need to understand how to approach it. For example, in the workplace, we will have a rather modest audio system compared to what we can afford at home.

Timofey: By the way, I do not agree. We have an employee in our office who has a very expensive DAC on the table, a very expensive headphone amplifier, and he uses very expensive headphones.



External DAC Arcam rPac

Dmitry: Yes, this is when it comes to a closed circuit, when a person listens with headphones.

Timofey: I think that not headphones are collective auditions. And here everything is really very difficult. There are different categories of people who are used to working in a different atmosphere.

For example, in accounting, something rarely plays at all. This is very strange for me. However, there are different categories of people, and they can be clearly divided by profession. Close to the accountants are the teachers. These people can not work with music, it distracts them.

Dmitry: Probably, the fact is that there are a lot of reports both in accounting and in the educational process.

Timofey: No, I do not agree. I also have a huge number of numbers. When I work with numbers, collect some statistics, create some kind of report, and this happens almost every day, it all goes very well to the music.

It seems to me that the point here is not what a person does, but how he relates to this and what is happening in his head. My process to the music is much more cheerful and fun. This is an integral part of it. Without music it will be hard, long and difficult. With music - fast and easy.

The only thing is that I cannot listen to singing in Russian at such moments. Here, probably, the reason is clear. Russian is my native language and I understand it too well. And, fortunately, with English so far this does not happen, because otherwise it is not at all clear what I will have to listen to. Only instrumental music.

Dmitry: Let's return to the question of choice. It is interesting to look at the difference that is now, compared with what was 6-8-10 years ago. In addition to having the breadth of choice, it is also an opportunity to get expert information about what is currently on the market. There are many sites that allow you to understand this or that topic. From the point of view of audio technology, acoustics are there such expert platforms in this topic right now?

Timofey: Oh, this is a sore point. If we recall the past a little, audio equipment in the same 80s was the engine of progress. This was the topic that IT has now occupied, probably more in the context of smartphones and mobile communications.

In the 80s this was not. Therefore, a lot was said about audio and video equipment. The media also supported this topic. The media generally connects very quickly to a question that is interesting.

Now, unfortunately, this is almost nonexistent. There are fragmentary publications. If this is not the profile of the media, you should not wait for literate material. We had a negative experience when a non-profile interior magazine was about to make an article about home theaters. We took part in it, helped, told.

When the article came out, I wanted to shoot myself. So much time was spent to get people to the point, and the article was not about that, and even illiterate. Unfortunately, this is a big trouble. People will read it. I hope not many, because the magazine is not for fans of audio / video, but nonetheless. Those who read will have a completely wrong impression. This is bad.

There is a wonderful portal iXBT. As far as I know, in the near future there will be a section about audio, namely about Hi-Fi. They now think what to call it. I am extremely happy, we even start working with them in the context of testing some materials, reviews. It's great. On this portal, as readers and, perhaps, writers, there are people who are really interested in technology, technology and modern things.

There is a lot of this in audio now, and there is practically no place to read about it. This, of course, difficult. The transition of the media to the network for the media themselves is generally a painful topic. Until recently, they tried to deny the availability of the Internet, and behaved a bit strange, because the prospect was clear. To get authoritative, correct and reliable information about home audio, about home theaters is very difficult.

This information is accompanied by a lot of white noise. If you take the forums, there are a lot of people with high ratings, and the rating, as we know, is put on the forums for the number of posts. As a result, we get a stream of opinions from people who, unfortunately, do not know anything about it and are judged simply because they think so. This, of course, is very difficult.

Dmitry: On the other hand, you can simply go directly to an expert in the store or visit the showroom. How has the situation changed in terms of this possibility? There used to be more showrooms, now it has become less. A crisis. How can this be compared?

Timofey: First, the situation has really changed. In chain stores, they began to run away from buyers who go to a small area where there is a Hi-Fi, because you have to talk to them. And during this time you can sell four teapots.

No kidding, I came across this. And other people tell me about how there are two sellers, who see that the buyer is going to the Hi-Fi department purposefully, and they are making way for them. It's funny.

For Audiomania, this is good, because people will come to us and we will talk with them. A relatively recently appeared trend with indoor listening, now, probably, it is declining on a general scale. People buy more “consumer” things.

Again, I see the situation from the inside and I understand that often people trust someone's opinion or reviews. And indeed it happens that they buy without listening. It ends in different ways. Some people like everything. But it happens that often people say: “What should I do? I've bought, I read, and I don't like it. ” I really don't like it.

Someone somewhere heard something. Someone went to his birthday, drank, listened to music, and he liked it. And he bought the same speakers for himself, but they didn’t sound like they were at the birthday party when he drank. Therefore, showrooms have not gone away, people come and continue to listen. And, I think that there is no other way.



Showroom Audiomania on m. Electrozavodskaya

It is clear that there are some simpler things, for example, Heon from Denon. It's just one box that solves all the problems. It connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, and something starts to play.Or this box itself is connected to the network, and from the network something pulls and reproduces. And this is enough for people.

It's great that this is happening, also because some time ago a large number of people in apartments did not have a musical source. It was amazing. I came to visit my friends and realized that they have nothing to listen to music. They have a TV and that's it. They moved to a new apartment and do not even think that they need to buy something. Therefore, the purchase of such a small device - the first step in order to come to some more or less serious system.

If a person understands how the music actually sounds, such a device, of course, will not satisfy him. On the other hand, it's great to put something in the bedroom and read a book in the evening with background music (by the way, not everyone can read books to music). Or just do something nice to such music. Why not?But, of course, this is not a complete replacement.

In this sense, probably little has changed over the years. The only thing I see is that people really began to pay more attention to this. If about 8-10 years ago the topic of audio completely left the discussion, but now it is completely obvious that it is coming back. People listen to music. Here, probably, it is worth remembering a young audience that practically does not live without headphones. This, I think, sooner or later will result in the understanding that music is a part of life, which is impossible without it.

The only thing that, of course, it all depends on what they listen to in these headphones. We recently published a funny video: a person talked about understanding classical music. If this video is shown to young people, and then letting them listen to some classic piece, it will be interesting to look at their reaction. Because, unfortunately, people do not understand how to listen to it.

And the quality of the equipment that they have does not allow them to fully enjoy the music so that they can hear what they have in mind, and not what their inexpensive headphones that they bought in the transition can reproduce.

Dmitriy:By the way, showrooms allow not only to see a specific copy of audio equipment, they also allow in communication to learn about some new categories. For example, two years ago I met with experts in the showroom and learned from them that there are portable DACs. Before that, I simply did not imagine that there was such a category of goods.

Also for some people it may be the discovery of the presence of network players in the form in which they already exist: not just some box, which is a big flash drive connected to the network. Still, this is a smarter device.

Timofey: A showroom is a permanent exhibition. I have long been accustomed to call him that.

Dmitry: By the way, speaking of exhibitions ...

Timofey:In my opinion, there is no longer any sense in these inserts, since there are showrooms. Many companies in the showroom can listen, talk, a person will be given a lot of time. He can put his music, can listen to it for not two or three minutes. Having come to the showroom, having come to the company, it seems to me, you can get much more. The exhibition itself has already lost its meaning.

Dmitry: Even if you compare in terms of space equipment?

Timofey: This is generally a disaster. Few people get to build conditions in hotel rooms, despite the fact that everyone is perverted as they can. The idea of ​​the exhibition is that you can come and "listen" to the entire market.

In fact, the whole market cannot be "listened", firstly, and secondly, it is not necessary. It is impossible to listen to more than 3-4 speaker options at once, porridge appears in the head. Here you can draw an analogy with the perfume shop, when aromas are mixed in the nose and give a sniff of coffee. Unfortunately, there is no coffee in the audio, you just need to pause, and it is big enough for the head to return to normal and you can continue to compare.

Dmitry: What can not be done with the exhibition, because they go 2-3 days.

Timofey:You can spend all these 2-3 days, hang out there: listened to 2-3 rooms, went outside, walked around Crocus, this is quite a large area. During this time, everything can erode. Returned back - listen further. But I do not know who has so much time. The main thing is that there is really no need for this. A lot of the same equipment, very similar in style to the sound.

It would be cool, of course, if a person turned, for example, to Audiomania and told how he listens to music, his sound and musical preferences, and we would immediately offer him three options that he would listen to.

I understand that people for the most part want to plunge into it all. As far as I can imagine, this is almost impossible. Especially, taking into account the conditions of the room and the peculiarities of the atmosphere: in the corridor, someone is talking to someone, but here you have to listen and hear the nuances. What might be the nuances when a bunch of people crowd around, who talk about something among themselves, someone goes through some things, someone asks to turn off one and turn on the other.

This is not the atmosphere that will allow you to pick up equipment. Unfortunately, the exhibition does not solve this problem. Now the exhibition has become more a way to see who is still alive in the market. If a company participates in an exhibition, then it has money for it. Well, see who got what.

Here, too, it must be understood that it is not always possible to show a “wild” novelty once a year. New devices and new classes of devices appear, but they do not appear so often to come to the exhibition for this.

Dmitry: We are forming the way of immersing a person into the topic of audio: he comes not from magazines, but from friends, he looks at what they write on the network, he visits expert sites and platforms that are often formed by the companies that sell audio equipment.

Timofey: He has to do that. There is no other way. Lately, everything usually begins from friends and acquaintances who have learned something. It turns out a closed elite club. Someone heard something, recognized and offered to show. Showed, someone listened, hanging his ears and opening his mouth, and realized that another time had come.

It turned out that in the audio theme we had a strong failure between the 80s and 2010s. Almost a twenty-year failure when audio information was not mainstream. It is not the mainstream even now, but we are gradually getting out of this dark zone, they are becoming interested in this.

Take even the fact that everyone is wearing headphones. In the 90s. there were not so many people in headphones, for example, in the subway. Now everyone is listening to music. And that's great, I think.